The King's Cabinet: Christ Appoints the Twelve Text: Luke 6:12-16
Introduction: The Politics of the Kingdom
Every government has a founding moment, a constitutional convention where the foundational principles are laid down and the key officers are appointed. Our secular age wants to imagine that such moments are the product of human reason, of enlightened men sitting around a table hammering out a compromise. But the Kingdom of God is not a democracy, and its founding was not a negotiation. It was a sovereign act, undertaken by the King Himself, after a night of intense communion with His Father. The selection of the twelve apostles is not simply Jesus picking His ministry team. It is the formal establishment of the government of the New Israel. It is a declaration of war against every other claim to authority.
We live in a time of profound political confusion. Men look to Washington, or to Brussels, or to the United Nations, hoping to find a solution to the chaos that engulfs us. They place their faith in parties, platforms, and personalities. But the Christian knows that the only true government, the only lasting solution, was established on a mountain in Galilee two thousand years ago. The calling of the twelve is a profoundly political act. It is the appointment of the King's cabinet, the foundational leaders of a kingdom that will outlast every earthly empire and ultimately fill the earth.
This passage forces us to ask where our ultimate allegiance lies. Is it with the temporary, failing kingdoms of men, or with the eternal, advancing Kingdom of Jesus Christ? The men Jesus chose were not polished politicians or credentialed elites. They were fishermen, a tax collector, and a nationalist revolutionary. They were a mess. But they were His mess. And through them, He would turn the world upside down. This is the pattern of God's work. He does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. And in this selection, we see the wisdom, the authority, and the sovereign grace of the King.
The Text
Now it happened that at this time He went off to the mountain to pray, and He was spending the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
(Luke 6:12-16 LSB)
Sovereign Deliberation (v. 12)
The foundation of this world-altering decision is laid in solitude and prayer.
"Now it happened that at this time He went off to the mountain to pray, and He was spending the whole night in prayer to God." (Luke 6:12)
Before the King appoints His ministers, He confers with His Father. This is a crucial point. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, in His humanity, models for us a life of perfect dependence. He does not act unilaterally. The establishment of the leadership of His church is not a decision made on a whim; it is bathed in a night of intense, focused prayer. The weight of this decision required it. These twelve men would be the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem. Their names would be inscribed there for eternity. And one of them would be a devil.
The mountain is a place of revelation, a place where heaven and earth meet. Moses went up the mountain to receive the law for the old Israel. Jesus, the new and greater Moses, goes up the mountain to establish the leadership for the new Israel. This all-night prayer session is not Jesus trying to figure out what to do, as though the Father's will was a mystery to Him. Rather, it is an act of deep communion and submission. It is the Son, in His role as the perfect man, aligning His actions with the eternal decree of the Father. This is a Trinitarian council of war before a major offensive is launched in the spiritual battle for the world.
If the sinless Son of God devoted an entire night to prayer before making such a foundational decision, how dare we rush into our decisions, great or small, with a flippant "God bless this mess" prayer tacked on at the end? Our lives, our families, and our churches are to be governed in the same way: with deliberate, dependent, and sustained prayer. The effectiveness of the action in the morning is determined by the faithfulness of the intercession through the night.
Sovereign Selection (v. 13)
After the night of prayer, the decision is executed with divine authority.
"And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles." (Luke 6:13 LSB)
Notice the progression. First, He calls the wider group of His disciples. From this larger pool of followers, He then makes a sovereign choice. This was not a vote. There were no applications, no interviews, no campaigning. The King chose. The word for "chose" is one of deliberate selection. This is a foundational principle of grace. God always takes the initiative. He chooses us; we do not choose Him.
He chose twelve. This number is not accidental. It is a direct and unmistakable statement. The old Israel was constituted by twelve tribes, descending from the twelve sons of Jacob. By choosing twelve apostles, Jesus is declaring that He is reconstituting the people of God around Himself. This is the new Israel, the true Israel. The old had become corrupt, led by the blind, and was about to be judged. Here, on this mountain, the government of the true people of God is being formed. These twelve men are the patriarchs of this new nation, a nation that will be made up not of one ethnicity, but of every tribe, tongue, and people.
He then names them "apostles." A disciple is a learner, a student. An apostle is a "sent one," an ambassador, an emissary who carries the full authority of the one who sent him. This is a promotion. They are being moved from the classroom to the battlefield. They will be His authorized representatives, and to receive them will be to receive Christ, and to reject them will be to reject Christ. This is the beginning of the foundation of the Church, with the apostles as the foundation and Christ Himself as the cornerstone.
Sovereign Assembly (v. 14-16)
The list of names given to us is a beautiful and startling picture of the nature of Christ's kingdom.
"Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor." (Luke 6:14-16 LSB)
This is not a roster of the elite. This is a motley crew. We have fishermen, impulsive and hot-headed like Peter, James, and John. We have a skeptic like Thomas. And then we have the most explosive pairing imaginable: Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot.
To understand the magnitude of this, we have to understand the first-century political landscape. A tax collector was a traitor. He was a Jew who worked for the pagan, occupying Roman government, and he got rich by extorting his own people. He was the ultimate collaborator, despised by all patriotic Jews. Simon, on the other hand, was a Zealot. The Zealots were radical nationalists, revolutionaries who believed in overthrowing Rome by any means necessary, including violence. They were the sworn enemies of men like Matthew. In any other context, if Simon and Matthew were in the same room, Simon would be looking for a knife and Matthew would be looking for the door.
But here they are, in the same government, serving the same King. This is the miracle of the gospel. The gospel creates a new kind of unity that transcends and demolishes all the world's categories of division. Our modern politics are consumed with divisions based on race, class, and political affiliation. The world says you must be on the left or the right. The gospel says that in Christ, there is no left or right. There is only a new man. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, and the man who hated the government and the man who worked for the government are made brothers. This is a picture of the church. Our unity is not found in political agreement, but in our shared allegiance to King Jesus.
Sovereign Paradox (v. 16)
The list concludes with the most jarring and difficult name of all.
"...and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor." (Genesis 1:16 LSB)
After a whole night of prayer, Jesus chose Judas. Let that sink in. This was not a mistake. This was not an oversight. This was not a failure of the Father's guidance. The sovereign King, in perfect communion with the Father, deliberately chose the man who would betray Him. Luke adds the descriptor, "who became a traitor," but Jesus knew from the beginning what was in Judas's heart (John 6:64).
This is one of the hardest truths in all of Scripture, and it strikes at the heart of our sentimental notions about God. Why would He do this? The answer is found in the profound mystery of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. God's eternal decree does not violate the will of man; it ordains it. Judas's betrayal was his own wicked choice, for which he was fully and eternally responsible. And yet, it was also the predetermined plan of God to bring about the salvation of the world (Acts 2:23). God weaves even the most wicked and treacherous acts of men into the tapestry of His perfect, redemptive plan.
Joseph said to his brothers, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." This is the principle on a cosmic scale. Judas meant evil, Satan meant evil, the chief priests meant evil. But God the Father meant it for the good of His people, for the glory of His Son. The inclusion of Judas in the twelve is a stark reminder that God is in absolute control. Nothing, not even the deepest betrayal, can thwart His purposes. He uses the treachery of a false friend to accomplish the redemption of His true friends. This should not cause us to despair, but to stand in awe of a God so wise and powerful that He makes the wrath of man to praise Him.
Conclusion: Your Place in His Kingdom
So what does this mean for us? This is not just a historical record of an ancient appointment. This is the constitutional document of the kingdom to which we belong. First, we must see that the authority of the Church rests not on human ingenuity but on divine appointment. The apostles, and the Scriptures they gave us, are the foundation. To reject their teaching is to reject the King who sent them.
Second, we must see the nature of our unity. If Christ can make a tax collector and a zealot into brothers, then He can certainly overcome the petty political and personal disagreements that so often divide us. Our identity in Christ must be more fundamental to us than our identity as an American, a Republican, a Democrat, or anything else. We are Christians first.
Finally, we must rest in the absolute sovereignty of our King. He chose these men, warts and all. He chose a denier to be the rock. He chose political enemies to be His ambassadors. And He chose a traitor to be the instrument of our salvation. This means that He can use you. Your weaknesses, your failures, your messy past, none of it disqualifies you from His service. In fact, it is the very material He loves to work with. And it means that no matter how dark things get, no matter how much betrayal or opposition the Church faces, the King is on His throne, and His plan cannot fail. He is building His kingdom, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.